The week-long trip included tours of Zhangjiajie and another Chinese national park, Tianmen Mountains, an international conference attended by 300, and a visit to Hunan University. They also went to Tangerine Island, home of Chinese Communist Party founder Mao Zedong.

Donahue represented the entire international delegation — including parks officials from Germany, Australia, Finland, Canada and South Korea — as its highest ranking member.

He delivered remarks to the gathering and presented a National Park Service "Eisner" hat to his Chinese counterpart during a formal ceremony.

The hat — which Donahue brought along in a plastic carrying case contoured to the hat's shape — was carefully scrutinized three times in Chinese customs, he said.

Though China is one of the oldest countries in the world, the U.S. has the oldest national park system in the world. The Chinese National Forest Park agency paid all expenses for the visiting Americans and sought their guidance.

"Their entire theme was, 'You have been doing this a lot longer than we have and we can learn from you,'" Donahue said. "They treated us like VIPs."

There were both similarities and differences between U.S. and the Zhangjiajie national parks, he said.

Most of the vistas and trails there were paved, unlike the natural trails here. Different types of wood and polished rock were used for signs there — the latter a concept Donahue would like to try at Delaware Water Gap.

"We were there in the middle of December, and there were thousands of people on the trails all day long," Donahue said. "They had features like swinging bridges."

The 100,000-acre park (the Water Gap NRA is about 70,000 acres) is about 150 miles from the nearest city.

Some Chinese residents live within park boundaries and provide lodging for the foreign and domestic tourists who are randomly assigned by a lottery.

"You didn't get there accidentally," Donahue said. "What they're aiming for is to have the parks help their economy."

Shop souvenirs ranged from handcrafted items, to scarves and sweaters, to the type of cheap items one might find in a U.S. tourist trap.

"The food was great," Donahue said. "It was not as different as I had expected. I didn't feel at all out of place."

Donahue was selected by NPS officials for the Chinese trip partly because he has led other foreign tours, including a 1999 trip to a national park in Haiti aimed at helping them develop eco-tourism.

"Mostly what I've seen is people coming to visit us," Donahue said. "So it's nice to be able to return the visit. Now all these people are aware of this (DWG) park and we create a sister relationship with China."